Tom Pongrass opened with a raise to 7,000 before Kelly Kim popped it up 25,000. John Paul Kelly flat-called, as did Pongrass.
The flop came and Pongrass fired out 25,000. Kim folded as Kelly made the call.
The turn was the and Pongrass fired again for 70,000. Kelly made the call once more as a huge pot was developing.
The river brought the and Pongress let rip with a third barrel worth 100,000. Kelly made the call but mucked when Pongrass revealed for the nut flush. With three streets of value, Pongrass flies out to the tournament lead with 568,000 as Kelly slips to 90,000.
On a flop both Annica Ivert and Tino Lechich checked to David Docherty. Docherty bet out 14,000 and both players called. The turn saw Ivert take the lead and bet out 27,500; both Lechich and Docherty both made the call. On the river Ivert checked, Lechich fired a 50,000 bet, which Docherty flat-called, allowing Ivert to fold.
Lechich tabled for a rivered straight, good for the pot as Docherty mucked. Docherty drops to 300,000. Ivert drops to 460,000 and Lechich moves up to 370,000.
Luis Pampliega got out to a huge chip lead in his Day 1 flight. He wasn't able to translate that into Aussie Millions Main Event cash. Pampliega moved all in preflop for 96,000 after an open-raise. Annette Obrestad was in the small blind and woke up with . She reraised to isolate, and got Pampliega heads up with . It didn't look good for Pampliega, and it didn't get any better on a flop of . He was down to running straight cards, running flush cards, or one of the remaining nines. The turn came , taking away all of the running possibilities. The river fell , taking away the rest of Pampliega's chips.
Media row is excited about the possibility (however remote) of Antonio Casale and Antonis "Toothpick Tony" Kambouris battling heads up for the Aussie Millions Main Event title. Those hopes became a bit slimmer after Casale ran pocket eights into Jonathan Plens' pocket jacks. Plens opened from the button for 11,000, then shoved for a total of 99,000 after Casale raised the small blind to 70,000. Casale was priced into a call. Plens caught a jack on a flop of to take a stranglehold on the hand. Casale was drawing dead after the turn fell .
Casale has 90,000 chips after this loss. Plens is up to 205,000.
Sam Khouiss raised to 7,000 and Sam Capra made the call on the button. In a battle of the "Sams" the flop came and Khouiss checked. Capra fired 12,000 and Khouiss grumbled, "Lovely flop!" and flashed before folding. "I thought so!" laughed Capra.
Next hand, Khouiss was able to recover some chips after three-betting the opening bet from Michael Tureniec.
"I dare you to call!" exclaimed Khouiss, "I'm on tilt!"
Tureniec gave it up and Khouiss is back to 79,000.
In a battle of the blinds, Leonid Cai raised to 5,700 before Joe Hachem popped it up to 35,000 from the big blind. Cai moved all in and covered Hachem, who made a quick call.
Cai:
Hachem:
The flop was devastating for the 2005 World Champion as it fell to pair Cai's ace. The turn was to give Hachem additional flush outs, but the river missed him when the peeled off.
Hachem stood and departed the Crown Poker Room to a generous round of applause from the fans on the rail.
An annoyed Richard Ashby has just arrived at his seat after oversleeping. Ashby was visibly annoyed with tournament staff and was heard asking why efforts weren't made to track him down at his room to alert him he was late. Ashby has lost 70,000 chips this afternoon, and is down to 115,000.
Swedish player Michael Tureniec is holding his own at the feature table. He recently reraised to 21,500 in position after Sam Capra opened for 7,500. Capra made the call.
Both players carefully checked a flop that came down . Capra bet 20,000 when the turn fell . Tureniec called to the river and called another 30,000-chip bet there. Capra turned over , but Tureniec bested him with to drag the pot and increase his count to 545,000.
There will be no Main Event cash for Steve Sung this year. After calling Andrew Chen's all-in preflop push, Chen's was dominated by Sung's . That was until the board ran out , giving Chen a straight and leaving Sung with just 23,000 in chips.
A short-stacked Sung would be eliminated a little later by Dixon Ruecker.